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January 02, 2014

(+++) NO STOPPING YET

The 39 Clues is such a phenomenon at
this point that calling the latest sequence of books Unstoppable seems inevitable (in fact, maybe the next sequence
should be called Inevitable). The
structure of this interactive multimedia series and of the books within it is
now firmly established. Each book contains six trading cards; each card unlocks
one online clue upon entry of the code appearing on the card. Within the books,
the primary approach is adventure and the secondary one is history, since the
Cahill family – which is at the center of all the novels – turns out to include
or at least have interacted with practically every famous person that readers
can think of or about whom they will learn in the course of the books.

The books themselves change
points of view frequently, allowing readers to see the story developing from
multiple angles. Characters are one-dimensional and generally have
comic-book-like motivations when they have any at all, but characterization is
not a significant element in this universe: action and complex (but not too complex) plots are what The 39 Clues is all about. Unstoppable is the third series, and the
authors of the first two books are quite comfortable with this sort of plotting
and pacing. Nowhere to Run is by Jude
Watson, an old hand at these books: he wrote Beyond the Grave, In Too Deep and part of Vespers Rising in the first sequence and A King’s Ransom in the second. Watson is responsible for the
overall story arc of Unstoppable. The
second book in this sequence, Breakaway,
is by Jeff Hirsch, who is new to The 39
Clues but has clearly absorbed the authorial approach that the books
require.

The nefarious doings here
affect an older and somewhat more seasoned Dan Cahill (now 13) and Amy Cahill
(now 16). Unstoppable dips into the
whole reason for the existence of The 39
Clues: those clues refer to 39 ingredients in a serum that, like the “one
ring to rule them all” in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth but without the
inevitable darkness, will turn the possessor into the most powerful person on
the planet. Inevitably there is
darkness following the serum and its keepers – currently Dan and Amy – around,
and that is the underlying plot mover of Unstoppable.
In Nowhere to Run, an unscrupulous
presidential candidate named J. Rutherford Pierce attacks Amy and Dan, steals
the serum and plans to conquer the entire world. Readers who do not find this
silly – merely absurd – will enjoy Amy’s and Dan’s attempt to find an
ingredient for an antidote to the
serum, a quest that is predictably world-spanning (Australia, New York City,
Dublin, London, Istanbul, the inevitable “undisclosed location,” and so on).
The tale is told with the usual hyperbole: “It had never happened before.
Never, ever, ever. Nobody had ever done it and many had tried.” The dialogue is
just what readers will expect, too: “This feels way sketchy to me.” “Come on.
There’s no time.” “C’mon, kiddies, we don’t have all day.” Nothing is
particularly original here, and nothing is supposed to be: Nowhere to Run does a good job of sending Amy and Dan on their
latest quest to places known and obscure, for appropriate save-the-world
purposes, as their ill-intentioned opponents seek to outmaneuver them.

And Breakaway keeps things going nicely, as Dan and Amy realize that
the power of their precious serum can be used against them and they must
journey to the ends of the Earth – just about literally, since the book’s
settings range from the equatorial to the Arctic – to try to prevent disaster. Again
there are the expected sorts of descriptions, comments and thoughts: “You may
be strong and fast, but it’s time to see which one of us is smart.” “Every inch
of her body throbbed with pain.” “There’s no way I’m letting these people
down.” “Time to go to war.” “Who’s the bad guy? You? Or me?” Actually, the
question of good guys and bad guys gets a touch more complicated than usual in
this book, since the plot twist here involves Dan apparently being betrayed by
the one ally he has been able to count on throughout all his adventures: Amy.
This sort of thing has happened before, as readers of The 39 Clues will remember, and it’s a reliable plot trope in
adventure novels in general. Still, fans of this ongoing series will enjoy
trying to figure out just who is on whose side and who is pursuing what agenda
here, although all readers will understand that Dan and Amy cannot possibly end
up on opposite sides of things. “Most people think he’s nuts,” one character
here comments about another. And Dan replies, “Sounds like our kind of guy.”
Indeed, anyone with goodness in his or her heart and a predisposition for the
victory of the benevolent managers of history (the Cahills) vs. the evil ones
(J. Rutherford Pierce and many others) will be “our kind of guy” (or gal) in Unstoppable, as in the previous incarnations
of The 39 Clues. At this point, these
thoroughly unsubtle, easy-to-follow multimedia adventure stories show every
sign of continuing to expand to such a degree that they can fairly be
considered, well, unstoppable.